Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down [SOLVED]

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rtcary
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Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down [SOLVED]

Post by rtcary » 2018/02/08 21:56:13

I have a Centos 7 server that I use for testing website development and when I ran the recent update, the process got part way through and froze. Now it will not boot and the diagnostic it come up with indicates quite a few processes in red.

Outside of re-installing Linux, is there a way to resurrect the system? As background, I'm not a Linux geek; just know enough to keep the system running which is not much since Linux/Centos just runs.

Todd
Last edited by rtcary on 2018/02/19 15:50:01, edited 1 time in total.

lightman47
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by lightman47 » 2018/02/08 22:17:42

1. Any pertinent logs that may be shared? You mention, but don't include "the diagnostic it come up with indicates quite a few processes in red." that may help.

2. Was it running any 'built/compiled' software outside the supported repos?

rtcary
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by rtcary » 2018/02/09 17:51:23

Thank you for the response. I'll see if I can retrieve the the log file. Also, it was not running 'built/compiled' software outside the supported repos.

I'll get back later...

Todd

rtcary
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by rtcary » 2018/02/10 00:28:59

This what I have learned:

* I created a Centos 7 install from an ISO. When I go to the Troubleshoot option and follow the menu, I end up with "You don't have any Linux partitions".

* Following the built Rescue, I can run journalctl but I cannot mount a USB thumb drive.

Is there a way to get the boot working without a complete install of Centos 7?

Many thanks...

Todd

lightman47
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by lightman47 » 2018/02/10 13:00:14

From the very scant descriptions, it sounds like someone did 'something' prior to your running the update that crashed (your original post). It also sounds like whatever that was clobbered the system drive in some way - hence the subsequent update crash and then boot failures.

Without knowing what happened there's no way to answer your query. If you don't know or don't understand then a clean install might be the easier way out of this situation.

rtcary
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by rtcary » 2018/02/10 14:36:42

When I started the update (GUI), all appeared to be running fine though it appeared to be one of the most extensive I have run. Since it was so extensive, I went about doing some other tasks, and when I came back to the server, the update had hung (I did not make a note of the process that caused). I gave it some more time and it was still hung, so I did a hard reset — probably what caused the inability to reboot.

Though I have a backup of the data, setting up samba, MySQL and php are not my favorite tasks.

Todd

desertcat
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by desertcat » 2018/02/17 14:08:35

rtcary wrote:When I started the update (GUI), all appeared to be running fine though it appeared to be one of the most extensive I have run. Since it was so extensive, I went about doing some other tasks, and when I came back to the server, the update had hung (I did not make a note of the process that caused). I gave it some more time and it was still hung, so I did a hard reset — probably what caused the inability to reboot.

Though I have a backup of the data, setting up samba, MySQL and php are not my favorite tasks.

Todd
This MAY -- or may NOT -- be a worthwhile question to ask: How OLD is the drive?!? Have you run fdisk -l or even GParted to see if you can still see your Partitions. the, "You don't have any Linux partitions", leads me to believe that you had a disk failure, or you did something very clever (I've done that WAY too many times) that somehow screwed up your MBR, or some how deleted some or all key . If you can still see your various partitions the data is probably still there which suggests that your MBR might have gotten toasted. It is also possible that your GRUB2 table got scrambled. Assuming GParted and fdisk -l show that the data is still there mount the drive under KNOPPIX and find /etc /grub.d file. check /etc/grub.d You should have these files in order:

00_header
00_tuned
01_users
10_linux
20_linux_xen
20_ppc_terminfo
30_os-prober
40_custom
41_custom

If they have funny names or numerically out of order rename and put them back into the above show table, and reboot.

Truthfully I think that you had a massive disk failure, but I could be wrong.

rtcary
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Re: Recent update to Centos 7 took my server down

Post by rtcary » 2018/02/17 15:06:53

After the fact analysis showed that the disk was intact; it was the "nut in the chair" that screwed things up. I reinstalled Linux 7 and shortly after, the need for an update was indicated. In performing the update, the approximate place was reached the appeared to indicate the process was hanging, but this time I left it alone -- for a LONG time. All went well EXCEPT I have the task of reinstalling LAMP and Samba along with the challenges, some of which I still trying to solve.

Yes, I did an analysis of the disk first and it was fine; now to get LAMP working -- topic for another message.

Sorrow for wasting the time of the resources on this forum.

Todd

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